Giro organisers offer fans chance to be part of race history... via Twitter

Fans from around the world are being given the opportunity to literally make their mark on this year’s Giro d’Italia with organisers announcing that the text of 200 tweets will be painted – in pink, of course – on the final two kilometres of Stage 10’s climb to the Altopiano del Montasio on Tuesday 14 May.

The climb is included in the race for the first time, and the intention is that the tweets – which can be made in Italian or English – will serve as a permanent memorial of the Giro’s visit.

All tweets sent up to and including 1 April carrying the hashtag #montasiostage will be considered for inclusion, with one reserved for host region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which will be involved in the initiative through its Twitter account, @FVGlive. Each of the 23 teams on this year’s race will also provide a tweet.

The initiative reflects a further development of organiser RCS Sport's social media engagement strategy that aims to bring fans closer to the race, including using Twitter and Facebook to select climbs that featured in one of the stages in last year's edition.